Taken to Voraxia by Elizabeth Stephens

Author:Elizabeth Stephens [Stephens, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: romance
Published: 2020-04-07T16:00:00+00:00

13

Raku

The xamxin river has dimmed, so the fires rage bright. We are in the Shorashora Valley, one of the few places where the werro trees grow sparse, allowing for an unihibited view of the stars.

Chill filters down from the sky and swirls against the pale sands, but the fires that sit in enormous screa rock basins are enough to fight against it.

I sit in the high-backed werro throne familiar to me, for it is the one that I occupy anytime the Voraxian people celebrate. The last celebration was for the Xanaxana mating of Ixria to Ku’Rohru in the last half rotation.

It was a beautiful ceremony, but one that filled me with a an envy I was ashamed of, reminding me of what I had left behind on the human moon. Now that hate is gone, all that is left is a hollowness in my chest where my two hearts should thrum, a cold, fearful ringing beside it.

I have never experienced nerves such as these before. My toes, which are bare, burrow beneath the dusty white sand. I glance, not for the first time, at the empty seat beside me. It was constructed one rotation ago. Right upon my return from the human moon. And when I visited it for the very first time, I felt a similar sensation then as I do now. A pressure. A heat. A lust. A burn. Where is she?

Voraxians mingle with the Dra’Kesh who were selected to enjoy the trip to their capital. It was a random selection of Dra’Kesh — as was the selection on every planet — to ensure that not only the wealthy who are able to afford seats on a passenger ship were able to travel.

I am pleased now to see the blue, purple, grey, red, green, orange and the other jeweled skin tones of Voraxians of all kinds glimmering amongst one another as my people meet and mingle and honor one another as they will honor their Rakukanna in mere moments. Where is she? She should be here by now…

For a moment, a surge of panic grips me as I imagine that she tried again to escape with another one of her contraptions, like that which she built on the ship. I have heard from the reports sent to me each span that she requested to meet with Tri'Herion again. Meeting with him two times in three solars?

Perhaps she seduced him. Perhaps he gave her the tools needed to escape. I would not know. For I see only who she has visited, but not what they discussed. I did not want to violate her privacy, but perhaps I should have. For her own safety, I tell myself, though that is a lie. It is to assuage the gnarling copper jealousy that threatens to spill over my ridges and consume my whole body.

My gaze sweeps the crowd and pins Tri'Herion. He makes the pleasure expression and sound as he speaks with one I do not know by name or face. I

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